Bioscientifica Proceedings

Among livestock species, swine exhibit the most severe naturally-occurring intra-uterine growth restriction (IUGR) primarily due to a reduction in net protein synthesis. Thus, new knowledge about fetal metabolism of amino acids (AA), which are building blocks for proteins and regulators of intracellular protein turnover, can provide a solution to this problem. Among all AA, requirements of glutamate and glutamine by fetal pigs are quantitatively the highest, but cannot b...

Abstract unavailable© 2013 Context Products Ltd...

This review integrates established information with new insights into molecular and physiological mechanisms responsible for events leading to pregnancy recognition, endometrial receptivity, and implantation with emphasis on sheep. After formation of the corpus luteum, progesterone acts on the endometrium and stimulates blastocyst growth and elongation to form a filamentous conceptus (embryo/fetus and associated extraembryonic membranes). Recurrent early pregnancy loss in the ...

The structural and functional alterations of uterine epithelial cells that permit the apical-apical union of conceptus and uterine epithelium are complex and are likely to involve many different adhesion molecules with distinct but inter-related functions. A number of changes in the molecular composition at the apical surface of uterine epithelial cells associated with the transition from the pre-receptive to the receptive state in the pig uterus are reviewed. Molecules t...

The complexity of implantation necessitates intimate dialogue between conceptus and maternal cells, and precise coordination of maternal and conceptus signalling events. Maternal and conceptus-derived steroid hormones, growth factors and cytokines, as well as integrins and their ligands, have important and inter-related roles in mediating adhesion between apical aspects of conceptus trophectoderm and maternal uterine luminal epithelium that leads to formation of an epithelioch...

Oocyte maturation, a simple and visible phenomenon, is about to be transformed into a complex and not so visible molecular cascade leading to the marking of the following generation. The study of oocyte maturation in mammals is progressively changing towards a more molecular approach. This review addresses the main challenges in the study of RNA extraction and quantification in oocytes and embryos as well as the importance of the mRNA maturation. The identification of specific...

This review highlights information on conceptus-uterus interactions in the pig with respect to uterine gene expression in response to estrogens and interferons (IF Ns) secreted from elongating conceptuses. Pig conceptuses release estrogens for pregnancy recognition, but also secrete IENs that do not appear to be antiluteolytic. Estrogens and IFNs induce expression of largely non-overlapping sets of genes, and evidence suggests that pig conceptuses orchestrate essential e...

Abstract unavailable© 2009 Society for Reproduction and Fertility...

Abstract. During the last decade, transcriptome profiling has emerged as an efficient approach to describe and study cellular functions. The potential to survey transcript abundance for all genes offers promise to shed light on mammalian early embryogenesis. Furthermore, the report of aberrant phenotypes following the application of reproductive technologies also fueled the need to understand how embryos react, cope and adapt to their surrounding microenvironm...

Abstract unavailable© 1982 The authors...